The idea that people are becoming increasingly less interested in nature has become a familiar lament. But how does it jibe with reports that the popularity of ecotourism and other forms of natural recreation is growing?

To unravel this contradiction, a research team led by the University of Cambridge’s Andrew Balmford reviewed visitation records for 280 protected areas in 20 countries. Previous studies on the U.S. and Japan found that nature-based recreation was declining. Balmford’s team found that these countries are the exception, not the rule.

Between 1992 and 2006, visits to protected areas increased in 15 of the countries studied. Interestingly, there was a negative correlation between visitation rates and GDP—on a relative basis, natural areas in poor countries receive more visits than those in rich ones.
The researchers take these findings as a hopeful sign, arguing that they provide further evidence that nature-based tourism can help promote conservation and protect biodiversity. ❧

1 Comment

I heard no lonesome whippoorwill
Just cars and planes and trains
Endangered species may die out
In forest, parks and plains
I did not hear no robin weep
Is this the silent spring?
Has our pollution killed most birds?
Since we don’t hear them sing?

The hills and dales in our lush state
Gave homes to hawks and jays
The silence in our forests now
Could mean that all decays
We never see no whippoorwill
Against the smog filled sky
With ozone layers full of holes
Our planet starts to die

The pandas and the rhinos may
Be gone in fifty years
Our dying forests way up north
May host no grizzly bears
The elephants and chimpanzees
Survive in zoos and parks
If we don’t save our wildlife soon
They’ll need some Noah’s Arks